Sutter's Mill

In the spring of '47

So the story it is told

Old John Sutter went to the mill site

Found a piece of shining gold

Well, he took it to the city

Where the word like wildfire spread

And old John Sutter soon came to wish

He'd left that stone in the river bed



For they came like herds of locusts

Every woman, child and man

In their lumb'ring Conestogas

They left their tracks upon the land



Some would fail

And some would prosper

Some would die

And some would kill

Some would thank the Lord

For their deliverance

And some would curse

John Sutter's mill



Well, they came from New York City

And they came from Alabam'

With their dreams of finding fortunes

In this wild, unsettled land



Well, some fell prey to hostile arrows

As they tried to cross the plains

And some were lost in the Rocky Mountains

With their hands froze to the reins



Some would fail

And some would prosper

Some would die

And some would kill

Some would thank the Lord

For their deliverance

And some would curse

John Sutter's mill



Well, some pushed on to California

And others stopped to take their rest

And by the spring of '86

They had opened up the West

And then the railroad came behind them

And the land was plowed and tamed

When Old John Sutter went to meet his maker

He'd not one penny to his name



Some would fail

And some would prosper

Some would die

And some would kill

Some would thank the Lord

For their deliverance

And some would curse

John Sutter's mill



And some would curse John Sutter's Mill

Some men's thirsts are never filled